Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is a leading cause of death in underground mine fires. To identify safe emergency escape routes, investigators at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), where mine worker safety and health is a research priority, study how to predict the spread of smoke and toxic gases throughout the mine’s ventilation network.

Poor ventilation was only one of the hazardous conditions found by Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) inspectors during a special impact inspection last month at Mill Branch Coal Corp's Osaka Mine in Wise County, Virginia.

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) launched two new online tools this week to assist operators, miners, MSHA and others in tracking violations of standards commonly associated with mining deaths and frequently found by federal mine inspectors in examinations of underground coal mines.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration says federal inspectors issued 199 citations and 19 orders during special impact inspections conducted at 10 coal mines and six metal and nonmetal mines in November.

A recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) district manager has broad discretion to disapprove a mine operator’s proposed ventilation plan for an underground coal mine, and may do so as long as the decision is not arbitrary and capricious.